Consumer Protection: When corruption is rampant anarchy will follow
‘It is difficult but not impossible to conduct strictly honest business .What is true is that honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune.’ -M.K.Gandhi Non-violence in Peace and War
The above statement depicts the need for legislation for the protection of the consumer. The recent import of sub standard petrol by the government caused immense hardships to the consumers in Sri Lanka, whose vehicles had to undergo extensive repairs to bring them back to a running condition.
Gross negligence
General Secretary of the UNP Tissa Attanayake, addressing a news conference in Colombo, said that tax payers’ money had been wasted due to gross negligence on the part of the authorities, but Petroleum Resources Development Minister Susil Premajayanth has refused to accept the blame promising to make a statement giving details of the manner in which the said lapse had occurred, which statement is yet to come.
Although the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation had released this sub standard fuel to the market, no proper investigation has been carried out to ascertain the manner in which Rs.2.3 billion had been paid for contaminated fuel, Attanayake further said that the public is entitled to know the reason for releasing the stock of petrol in question, of which the greater percentage was rejected by the Kolonnawa Laboratory, to the market. It was also reported in the media that sub standard cement and outdated pharmaceuticals have been imported by government institutions. It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. What is strange is that in Sri Lanka, corrupt officials who are behind such illegal profit making rackets are protected by corrupt politicians who seem to share the spoils with their underlings. When corruption and lawlessness is rampant in a state sooner or later anarchy will undoubtedly reign.
Product liability
In the past, the doctrine of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) was the philosophy of the law of sales. At the present time it has been replaced by “let the seller beware”. As a result of this change of legal philosophy, business is heavily regulated on behalf of the consuming public. Many foreign corporations today have a department of consumer affairs. Product liability suits are already a part of tort law. The legal framework for consumer protection in Sri Lanka is presently found in the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No.9 of 2003, which was passed in the Parliament on 9th January 2003. It came into force with the establishment of the Consumer Affairs Authority.
Consumer Affairs
The Consumer Affairs Authority comes under the purview of the Ministry of Consumer Welfare. The new act repealed the Consumer Protection Act No.01 of 1979, the Fair Trading Commission Act No.01 of 1987 and the Control of Prices Act (Cap 173) Most of the provisions of the repealed acts, with some innovations, have been incorporated in to the Consumer Affairs Authority Act. It has been designed to protect the interest of the consumers. The Preamble to the Act states: ‘Whereas it is the policy of the Government of Sri Lanka to provide for the better protection of consumers through the regulation of trade and the prices of goods and services and to protect traders and manufacturers against unfair trade practices and restrictive trade practices and whereas the Government of Sri Lanka is also desirous of competitive pricing wherever possible and ensure healthy competition among traders and manufacturers of goods and services’ the Act has been enacted.
The Consumer Affairs Authority was established with focusing attention on the consumers in the present day context of the new economic order and trade procedures. The Act provides for the protection of the rights of not only the consumers but also the traders who are subjected to injustice. Both the goods and services are covered within the ambit of the Act. The web site of the Consumer Affaires Authority lists its services as inquiring in to Consumer Complaints, Control of Abusive Trade Practices, Consumer Education, promotion of competition, empowerment of consumers, market research and provision of information.
Punishing the offenders
Under the Act a Consumer Affairs Council has been established with wide powers to implement the provisions of the Act. Under Section 39(2) of the Act, the Council consists of the Chairman of the Authority, one person who has had wide experience in the field of commercial law, one person with wide experience in the management of business enterprises and an economist with wide experience in trade practice and consumer affairs. On receiving complaints from consumers the Council has the power to hold inquiries, summon witnesses and recommend the initiation of legal proceedings against offenders. The Magistrates’ Courts have been vested with jurisdiction to hear such cases and punish the offenders, which punishments include fines and imprisonment.
Era of consumers
In many countries, consumer protection laws have been enacted. In India the Consumer Protection Act of 1986, has been hailed as a milestone in the history of socio-economic legislation to protect the interests of the consumers in India. Unlike the Consumer Affairs Authority Act in Sri Lanka which is preventive and punitive in nature the Indian Act is compensatory in nature. The Indian Act provides simple, speedy and inexpensive solutions to the consumers’ grievances, and relief of a specific nature and award of compensation wherever appropriate to the consumer Apart from the consumer protection laws in the developed world, the accelerated rate of lawmaking for consumers have been observed in developing countries like Thailand, Korea, Mongolia, Philippines, Mauritius, China, Taiwan, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries. The present era could be considered as the era of consumers.
Exploitation by the State
The Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties found in Chapter VI of the present Constitution of Sri Lanka provides in Article 27(2)(d) for ‘the rapid development of the whole country by means of public and private economic activity and by laws prescribing such planning and controls as may be expedient for directing and co-ordinating such public and private economic activity towards social objectives and the public weal.’ and in Article 27(7)it is stated that ’The State shall eliminate economic and social privilege and disparity and the exploitation of man by man or by the State.’ Public ‘weal’ in old English means the public well-being or public wealth.
The question that faces the Sri Lankan people who are all consumers is whether in Sri Lanka the Government has succeeded in eliminating exploitation of man by man or by the State as such exploitation appears to be rampant at the present time in Sri Lanka.
Cheated in quality
All Sri Lankans are consumers in one form or another. In the present socio economic landscape in Sri Lanka, the consumer is a victim of many unfair and unethical tactics adopted in the market place. The untrained consumer is not in a position to resist the tactics of the businessman marketing goods and services on an organized basis assisted by trained professionals. The consumer is very often cheated in the quality, quantity and price of the goods or services. As Mahatma Gandhi once said the customer is the most important visitor to any place of business, but at present the consumer has become the victim of unscrupulous traders. In the context of modern economic industrial and social development activities, the notion of ‘freedom of contract’ has become a matter of fiction and a meaningless phrase as far as many consumers are concerned. A variety of consumer goods and services to cater to the needs of the consumers has evolved with globalization and development in the sphere of International Trade and Commerce as there has been substantial increase in business and trade activities. In recent times, there has been a greater public concern over issues concerning consumer protection all over the world.
It is advisable that Consumer protection in Sri Lanka be strengthened by adopting the following methods:
1 The consumers should be made aware of their responsibilities as consumers through a campaign to make every consumer more conscious of their rights and obligations..
2. Consumer organizations should be formed to develop the strength and influence to promote and protect the interests of consumers.
3. More stringent punishment should be prescribed by law so that manufacturers and traders would be reluctant to adopt fraudulent practices.
4. The Consumer Affaires Authority must make enhanced efforts in the direction of propaganda and publicity of the provisions made in the law for consumer protection so as to increase awareness among consumers about the legal framework for their greater involvement and to seek justice in case of malpractices.
5. Legal procedures should be designed so as to have easy handling and speedy disposal of cases
The writer is an Attorney-at-law